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Robert Koga Sensei passed away peacefully on September 8th, surrounded by friends and family after contracting mesothelioma. A celebration of his life will be held sometime in the next 30-45 days. The Koga Institute will continue to operate with his senior instructors according to his wishes.

Sincere condolences to the bereaved family, friends and colleagues of the late Koga Sensei. He was an early pioneer of sharing Aikido beyond the confines of the traditional dojo setting, introducing and developing his Aikido ideas with the Los Angeles Police and its cadet training department.

He will be missed, but his example will be carried forth as he envisioned.

Bob Koga wasn't a mainstream aikido instructor and wasn't known for his beautiful and flowing aikido. As a Los Angeles police officer he recognized that officers of his department weren't well trained for physical altercations in the 1950s. In those days defensive tactics training largely amounted to striking suspects and frequently both officer and suspect would end up in a brawl that left both injured and bleeding. Bob believed strongly that there was a better way. He began by taking from both judo and aikido those techniques that could be easily learned, could be performed well without years of practice and training, and could be applied effectively. That grew into the Koga Method and after years of testing at the LAPD Academy was ultimately adopted by the department. Eventually the techniques that Bob Koga developed and taught were adopted by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) and were taught at least in part to every peace officer in California. Over the years those same practices were adopted across the United States by the vast majority of police agencies. Today it is pretty difficult to see the difference in a "single arm take-down" and ikkyo. At least those of us who served, or are serving in law enforcement owe a great debt to Robert Koga Sensei.

Over-riding his great skill as a teacher and trainer was his sense of humor and spirit of fun. He will be missed and I'm certainly grateful for having known him.

Bob Koga wasn't a mainstream aikido instructor and wasn't known for his beautiful and flowing aikido. As a Los Angeles police officer he recognized that officers of his department weren't well trained for physical altercations in the 1950s. In those days defensive tactics training largely amounted to striking suspects and frequently both officer and suspect would end up in a brawl that left both injured and bleeding. Bob believed strongly that there was a better way. He began by taking from both judo and aikido those techniques that could be easily learned, could be performed well without years of practice and training, and could be applied effectively. That grew into the Koga Method and after years of testing at the LAPD Academy was ultimately adopted by the department. Eventually the techniques that Bob Koga developed and taught were adopted by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) and were taught at least in part to every peace officer in California. Over the years those same practices were adopted across the United States by the vast majority of police agencies. Today it is pretty difficult to see the difference in a "single arm take-down" and ikkyo. At least those of us who served, or are serving in law enforcement owe a great debt to Robert Koga Sensei.

Over-riding his great skill as a teacher and trainer was his sense of humor and spirit of fun. He will be missed and I'm certainly grateful for having known him.

No Give Up!

thanx for this mike.

i have to find the article that first brought mr koga's 'aikido' to my attention. how he had the 'blessing' from tohei sensei to develop a more tactical movement for LEOs.

and in that article, he mentioned the motto of his school, which came from when some judoka would visit from japan to compete and train. they'd fight, throw, pin, and as he was on the verge of exhaustion, would tell him 'no giva up.'